Granblue Fantasy: Relink is a game that perfectly managed to capture the magic of Monster Hunter, combined with FF14, and tales of arise.

The combat gameplay and loop of Monster Hunter, the MMO-like raid mechanics of FF14, and the sense of party and teamwork in gameplay in tales of arise.


The story is at most a 5 or 6. It's acceptable enough for you to go through it without feeling bad. Cliche anime plot, no big plot twists, nothing too crazy. It's just to set the mood of the game so that you have something to aim or "fight" for. Thankfully the story is very short and pretty easy to go through.

However credit's where it's due, the cutscenes are done beautifully, the fights spectacle are great. Fortunately, the good part of the game starts after the story ends.


10/10 Graphics. Beautiful and unique artstyle. Blending in 2d painting and 3d, and yet they look seamless and pretty. VFX are beautiful, animations flow very smoothly from one another. E.G : gran's/djeeta feels very smooth and agile because of the animations. Siegried/vaseraga hits feels very impactful with every attacks hit. Animations are also very well telegraphed when determining the timing of the spells or attacks. example : narmaya charged attack, katalina ares attack, monsters attack. Not to mention the SBA animations that are beautifully crafted and captures every characters' personality really well.



One of the best part of the game imo. Characters are very unique, both in terms of gameplay and personalities. Most characters have very low ceiling but when you know the nuances of the game and the characters, they can get pretty complex. Some characters also have the ability to play other styles, example, katalina can be a glass cannon dps or a support healer/tank. Gran can be a dps or healer, buffer, debuff, tank.

Granblue managed to do what tales of arise failed to do. Characters interacting with each other in a party. In tales of arise, you can change between characters mid combat and also tell them to do some skills for certain situations. and if conditions are met, they can link together and do a special move. but these are still not enough and they still feel disconnected and doesnt really interact with each other.

Meanwhile in granblue, characters talk with each other. whenever you do a link attack, they have unique dialogues for certain characters, when you do a perfect dodge or guard, they compliment you, when you do a link attack, when you do SBA, they will follow up and pass to each others while saying their name. It really feels like it's a whole party that are connected with each other and actively cooperating together.

VA of the characters are also great. characters personality are conveyed perfectly, and adds to the spectacle of the fight when they are shouting their lines.


Maybe a 8/10. Music of the game are generally very good, some of them is OK but some of them are GREAT. Unique, conveys emotion and story, and great to listen to. Example, managamr theme, versa bahamut theme, furycane theme and also the training dummy theme ( yes the training theme is a banger too )

Really well done.


The best part of the game. While it starts slow at the start of the game, it's mainly because you were given gran/rosetta. At first these characters may seem slow or barebones, but as you learn and play through the game, animation cancelling spells by dodging can unlock the full potential of these characters. Gameplay of each characters are unique and distinct. Be a slow heavy hitting vaseraga, fast and mobile lancelot, invincible vane, mobile and very strong zeta, glass cannon IO, and much more. There's a playstyle for everyone. When you are bored with one characters, play the game with different characters can add a lot of replayability. Whenever i start playing another character, i never stopped saying "this will be my new main". This is the GBF version of MH weapon class.

The combat is 10/10. There's perfect parry, perfect dodge, posture etc. Guarding/dodging at the perfect time grants you invi buff and also reduces enemy posture. Certain sigils also grant you damage. When you do damage to enemy when they are overload, enough damage can break their posture and stun them in break mode where you do more damage.

There's also mini posture where it's affected by your "Stun" value. dealing stun damage fills this posture meter up and upon fill, your whole team can do a link attack where they dash to the boss and do an attack that deals a lot of damage. At the same time, also fills up each character's gauge, skip combo and fills up Link Time Gauge.

Link Time Gauge can be filled through various means but mainly through working each other. Posture damage, link attacks, SBA attacks, revive. Further encouraging players to cooperate with each other. When this gauge is full, activate a Link Time where the time is slowed for the enemy and players gain massive buff (damage, regen, cd reduce, crit chance). Essentially a burst mode for the whole party where they can go all out.

Doing actions, hitting enemies, link attacks all contribute to SBA(Skybound Art) gauge. Essentially this is like LB if you play ffxiv or it's an ultimate ability. Casting it will deal a lot of damage to the enemy and at the same time will stun them in process. It will also freeze the timer, if the boss is casting a spell. IF, players cast them one after another, it gets stronger and will stun the boss longer. When at least 2 players do at the same time, it will activate a chain burst where it will deal additional damage and stun the boss.

Bosses are also very well designed and telegraphed. Just like in FFXIV, you can see the aoe markers on the ground before they hit. Especially some end game bosses (not looking at you pyet or any nihillas). End game bosses hits hard if you dont have any defensive sigils, and also have a pretty high hp. Or you can just perfect dodge/parry everything and become invincible. While having high hp is important, some bosses also have a dps check at certain points. They also have enrage timer. if you dont pass the dps check, you just die instantly. You can also use Link Time or SBA to slow/stop the enrage timer. Which in turn, you can strategize and save them specifically to pass these dps checks. And at the right timing and scenario, using SBA to finish off the boss is the most cinematic way you can end the fight, which adds to the spectacle of it.

Some endgame bosses are annoying bullet hell mechanics, but they are still great. Looking forward to lucilius.


(im reaching the words limit so gonna cut off some stuff)

50/50 on the gameplay loop. It's great but also a bit annoying at some parts.

Good at beginning but can get bad at the end with weapon farming and sigils farming.

Weapon have a really low drop rate and are randomed with each characters. (still no narmaya terminus)
Sigils transmute/ curious are also crazy RNG. If you really want to min max, it takes a lot of time. But really you dont NEED them.


Low sigils build variety due to damage cap. Can easily be solved by reducing damage sigils max level and damage cap.
Ends up everyone just build damage since you can skip mechanics and do boss faster with it. Some bosses will also feel unbalanced and too easy if the damage is too high. Because of how the sigils are designed, it's harder to balance the damage output of players while giving them freedom of build variety.

---

All in all, I give this game a good 8.5/10.

Mid story, Perfect combat gameplay, Great Graphics and music, Good gameplay loop.

If you like MH, FFXIV, tales. This is the game that you can play to scratch the itch while waiting for MHWilds.

Also plays perfectly on steamdeck

Granblue Fantasy: Relink is a game that perfectly managed to capture the magic of Monster Hunter, combined with FF14, and tales of arise. The combat gameplay and loop of Monster Hunter, the MMO-like raid mechanics of FF14, and the sense of party and teamwork in gameplay in tales of arise. [h1] Story [/h1] The story is at most a 5 or 6. It's acceptable enough for you to go through it without feeling bad. Cliche anime plot, no big plot twists, nothing too crazy. It's just to set the mood of the game so that you have something to aim or "fight" for. Thankfully the story is very short and pretty easy to go through. However credit's where it's due, the cutscenes are done beautifully, the fights spectacle are great. Fortunately, the good part of the game starts after the story ends. [h1] Graphics, Visuals [/h1] 10/10 Graphics. Beautiful and unique artstyle. Blending in 2d painting and 3d, and yet they look seamless and pretty. VFX are beautiful, animations flow very smoothly from one another. E.G : gran's/djeeta feels very smooth and agile because of the animations. Siegried/vaseraga hits feels very impactful with every attacks hit. Animations are also very well telegraphed when determining the timing of the spells or attacks. example : narmaya charged attack, katalina ares attack, monsters attack. Not to mention the SBA animations that are beautifully crafted and captures every characters' personality really well. [h1] Characters [/h1] One of the best part of the game imo. Characters are very unique, both in terms of gameplay and personalities. Most characters have very low ceiling but when you know the nuances of the game and the characters, they can get pretty complex. Some characters also have the ability to play other styles, example, katalina can be a glass cannon dps or a support healer/tank. Gran can be a dps or healer, buffer, debuff, tank. Granblue managed to do what tales of arise failed to do. Characters interacting with each other in a party. In tales of arise, you can change between characters mid combat and also tell them to do some skills for certain situations. and if conditions are met, they can link together and do a special move. but these are still not enough and they still feel disconnected and doesnt really interact with each other. Meanwhile in granblue, characters talk with each other. whenever you do a link attack, they have unique dialogues for certain characters, when you do a perfect dodge or guard, they compliment you, when you do a link attack, when you do SBA, they will follow up and pass to each others while saying their name. It really feels like it's a whole party that are connected with each other and actively cooperating together. VA of the characters are also great. characters personality are conveyed perfectly, and adds to the spectacle of the fight when they are shouting their lines. [h1] Music [/h1] Maybe a 8/10. Music of the game are generally very good, some of them is OK but some of them are GREAT. Unique, conveys emotion and story, and great to listen to. Example, managamr theme, versa bahamut theme, furycane theme and also the training dummy theme ( yes the training theme is a banger too ) Really well done. [h1] Gameplay [/h1] The best part of the game. While it starts slow at the start of the game, it's mainly because you were given gran/rosetta. At first these characters may seem slow or barebones, but as you learn and play through the game, animation cancelling spells by dodging can unlock the full potential of these characters. Gameplay of each characters are unique and distinct. Be a slow heavy hitting vaseraga, fast and mobile lancelot, invincible vane, mobile and very strong zeta, glass cannon IO, and much more. There's a playstyle for everyone. When you are bored with one characters, play the game with different characters can add a lot of replayability. Whenever i start playing another character, i never stopped saying "this will be my new main". This is the GBF version of MH weapon class. The combat is 10/10. There's perfect parry, perfect dodge, posture etc. Guarding/dodging at the perfect time grants you invi buff and also reduces enemy posture. Certain sigils also grant you damage. When you do damage to enemy when they are overload, enough damage can break their posture and stun them in break mode where you do more damage. There's also mini posture where it's affected by your "Stun" value. dealing stun damage fills this posture meter up and upon fill, your whole team can do a link attack where they dash to the boss and do an attack that deals a lot of damage. At the same time, also fills up each character's gauge, skip combo and fills up Link Time Gauge. Link Time Gauge can be filled through various means but mainly through working each other. Posture damage, link attacks, SBA attacks, revive. Further encouraging players to cooperate with each other. When this gauge is full, activate a Link Time where the time is slowed for the enemy and players gain massive buff (damage, regen, cd reduce, crit chance). Essentially a burst mode for the whole party where they can go all out. Doing actions, hitting enemies, link attacks all contribute to SBA(Skybound Art) gauge. Essentially this is like LB if you play ffxiv or it's an ultimate ability. Casting it will deal a lot of damage to the enemy and at the same time will stun them in process. It will also freeze the timer, if the boss is casting a spell. IF, players cast them one after another, it gets stronger and will stun the boss longer. When at least 2 players do at the same time, it will activate a chain burst where it will deal additional damage and stun the boss. Bosses are also very well designed and telegraphed. Just like in FFXIV, you can see the aoe markers on the ground before they hit. Especially some end game bosses (not looking at you pyet or any nihillas). End game bosses hits hard if you dont have any defensive sigils, and also have a pretty high hp. Or you can just perfect dodge/parry everything and become invincible. While having high hp is important, some bosses also have a dps check at certain points. They also have enrage timer. if you dont pass the dps check, you just die instantly. You can also use Link Time or SBA to slow/stop the enrage timer. Which in turn, you can strategize and save them specifically to pass these dps checks. And at the right timing and scenario, using SBA to finish off the boss is the most cinematic way you can end the fight, which adds to the spectacle of it. Some endgame bosses are annoying bullet hell mechanics, but they are still great. Looking forward to lucilius. [h1] Gameplay Loop [/h1] (im reaching the words limit so gonna cut off some stuff) 50/50 on the gameplay loop. It's great but also a bit annoying at some parts. Good at beginning but can get bad at the end with weapon farming and sigils farming. Weapon have a really low drop rate and are randomed with each characters. (still no narmaya terminus) Sigils transmute/ curious are also crazy RNG. If you really want to min max, it takes a lot of time. But really you dont NEED them. [h1] Build Variety [/h1] Low sigils build variety due to damage cap. Can easily be solved by reducing damage sigils max level and damage cap. Ends up everyone just build damage since you can skip mechanics and do boss faster with it. Some bosses will also feel unbalanced and too easy if the damage is too high. Because of how the sigils are designed, it's harder to balance the damage output of players while giving them freedom of build variety. [hr] [/hr] [h1] Summary [/h1] All in all, I give this game a good 8.5/10. Mid story, Perfect combat gameplay, Great Graphics and music, Good gameplay loop. If you like MH, FFXIV, tales. This is the game that you can play to scratch the itch while waiting for MHWilds. Also plays perfectly on steamdeck